Council officers have ruled out fields near Bayswater Road, Oxford, as the source of the mysterious bad smell that wafted through Oxfordshire this week.

A spokesman for South Oxfordshire District Council, which is investigating with Oxford City Council, said the chicken manure spread there was not likely to be the source of complaints.

The spokesman said: “The odour was only very noticeable when you are immediately adjacent to the field, and not from much further away.

“Although slightly different to usual agricultural smells, it was no stronger than from usual slurry spreading which is common at this time of year.

“We are still trying to identify the source of these complaints.”

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